The five crucial and defining match-ups of group stage

There are 48 matches in the World Cup group stages in Russia this year. But if you don’t care about soccer or your country didn’t make the cut (sorry, Americans), then you’re probably not going to watch all of them. The group stages run from the start of the World Cup on June 14 through to June 28. If you’re trying to decide which of these matches to tune in for, these are some of the best of the bunch:

Uruguay finished second in the South American qualifiers, the world’s toughest, behind Brazil but ahead of Argentina, and have a devastating attacking threat. They’ll face Egypt, where the pressing question is whether Mo Salah, the biggest surprise in world football this year, will be fit to play in some form after hurting his shoulder in the final of Europe’s Champions League. The match would be of much importance to both teams and would define how the Group A would fare in the event.

Portugal have one of the world’s best two players in Cristiano Ronaldo and are coming off the confidence-boosting success of winning the European Championships for the first time in 2016. They’ll play a new-look Spain. While trying to defend their 2010 trophy, Spain suffered humiliating losses in Brazil in 2014. While the current squad isn’t as full of the sorts of star players as the teams that won three major tournaments in a row from 2008 to 2012, this is a Spain that can be lethal—they beat a Messi-less Argentina 6-1 in March.

Managed by Tite, the Seleção were the first team to qualify for the World Cup. Brazil are a perpetual World Cup favorite, but Costa Rica reached the quarter-finals last time around and should provide a decent test this year of the credentials of Tite’s team, who are playing with style and verve now. Plus, underlying all of Brazil’s matches during the tournament is the small matter of avenging one of the great national humiliations in its history during the last World Cup.

Argentina have Lionel Messi, possibly the greatest player ever. They are also seemingly cursed; Argentina have lost three major finals in two years, including those of the last World Cup and Copa America. Nigeria have looked better than ever since Gernot Rohr took over in 2016, coming in at the top of their qualifying group and posing a strong counter-attacking threat. (And regardless of how Nigeria perform, you’re going to look cooler than supporters of any other country wearing their kit.)

The sports-data company Gracenote gives England a 4% chance of winning, compared with Brazil’s 21%. England’s perennial underperformance since winning in 1966 is a national punchline. But a young coach and a largely untested group of young talented players have a chance to outperform expectations for once. They face a difficult task to finish top of the group against Belgium, a country with no storied footballing history but which now has a golden generation of genuinely world-class players.